The John Franklin collection comprises documents and artifacts related to his childhood experiences as a German refugee in
Holland, as a prisoner in Westbork concentration camp, and as a liberated prisoner and displaced person after World War II.

Background

John Franklin was born Hans Frankenthal in July 1930 to Max and Clara Frankenthal. He had an older brother named Danner. The
family lived in Voitsburg, Germany in Bavaria and his father was in the wine business. His mother was a home maker. After
Kristallnacht, the family fled to Holland; his brother Danner escaped to the United States in 1938 with the support of his
mother’s brother, and changed his name to Warren Franklin.